Hussein Omairi Missing – The body of a man who is thought to have drowned last weekend while swimming in Windermere Lake in Invermere, British Columbia, has not yet been found. According to the nearby Mounties, the 26-year-old was swimming in the lake with some friends on Saturday afternoon when he went under and did not come back up.
Despite attempts by firefighters, police, and search and rescue teams, the man has not been found. Police reported that the search was still ongoing on Tuesday. Volunteers from North Shore Rescue braved the cold on Thursday night to save two missing hikers and their dogs, breaking the group’s annual call-out record. According to search manager Scott Merriman, a man and a woman were hiking on Grouse Mountain when they took the incorrect path. The team was dispatched at 7 p.m.
Merriman said, “On the way down they followed some footprints and ended up in the Mosquito Creek drainage. About 10 members of North Shore Rescue were sent to extract the couple, named as Jeremy Pitt and Amanda Merrifield, and their dogs safely from the mountain.Because of the high terrain, rescuers had a tough time getting the hikers to the Mount Fromme parking lot, but they were successful at 2 a.m. The hikers were only cold and worn out; they weren’t wounded.
The two weren’t well-prepared to be outside for that long, but Merrifield said, “We just got into a bad situation and we’re just really thankful for the North Shore (Rescue).” Pitt went on to say, “Without them, we’d probably be dead.” The hikers reported that when they once believed they might have encountered a cougar, they were rendered motionless.A very loud rumble that sounded like an idle sports car was heard by us. According to what we know and what the volunteers have told us, it was probably a cougar, Pitt said. “That kind of put us into fight-or-flight mode — shock mode.”Hussein Omairi was last seen on a rented pontoon boat, according to a friend who helped locate him.
The Columbia Valley RCMP said it will withhold further information out of respect for the man’s family.
